


Freeze Your Brain

by sociallyawkward_fics



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Heather's: The Musical references, Hurt/Comfort, Ice Cream, Late at Night, freeze your brain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 07:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13406748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sociallyawkward_fics/pseuds/sociallyawkward_fics
Summary: Virgil's been even more glum that usual the past few days. Not even Patton has been able to get him to open up. Perhaps Roman will be able to help him out?(I don't THINK there are any warnings, but please tell me if there are so I can tag them accordingly! I'm so sorry if there are and I missed them!)





	Freeze Your Brain

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so this wasn't planned at all, but I was listening to Heathers for the umpteenth time and then this happened lol. I think I'm dedicating it to my 100 follower milestone on tumblr. even though I'm at 200 now. Still haven't finished the fic I planned for 100, so this is it now lol. Hope you enjoy!

It was late, early, by some standards, and Roman was exhausted. Yet, here he was, emerging from his room at three in the morning for a glass of water. 

There were just too many ideas, he needed to think about them  _ all _ before he could rest! He could go a night without sleep, it wasn’t  _ that _ big of a deal. Virgil and Logan did it all the time!

Speaking of Virgil, there he was. He slouched on the counter, sitting on it now that Logan wasn’t awake to yell at him to get off of it. He held a bowl in his hand, but he didn’t seem to be eating out of it. The spoon sat untouched as Virgil just stared at it.

Roman was about to enter the kitchen to grab his water and leave Virgil to his devices, but suddenly Virgil seemed to sniffle and Roman froze again. Virgil had seemed, well,  _ off _ the past few days. More glum than normal. Not even  _ Patton _ had been able to get it out of him.

It  _ was _ late. Well, early. Would Virgil have less guards up if he was tired? Would he let Roman help? 

True, they didn’t really see eye-to-eye in most situations, but they’d been getting better lately. Their arguments were less heated and angry, becoming more similar to siblings playfully teasing to get on each other’s nerves.

Roman was pulled out of his own head when Virgil started humming, still staring unblinking into his bowl. The tune sounded familiar, but Roman’s tired brain couldn’t place it. Then, the humming evolved into soft singing.

“ _ Freeze your brain, shatter your skull, fight pain with more pain. Forget who you are, unburden your load, forget in six weeks you’ll be back on the road. When the voice in your head says, ‘You’re better off dead!’ Don’t open a vein. _ ”

The singing was bitter, the ends of the words biting instead of flowing into each other.

Roman bit his lip. It was about time he made his presence known, he knew Virgil didn’t like singing in front of others.  _ Especially _ if he didn’t know they were listening in.

“ _ Just freeze your brain _ ,” Roman finished for him quietly, causing Virgil to jump.

He dropped his bowl, hands shaking. Roman darted forward and caught it before the ceramic could shatter on the kitchen floor. It had ice cream in it. Roman bit back a smile, ‘freeze your brain’ indeed.

“Sorry,” Roman said gently. “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“S’okay,” Virgil muttered and looked away, wiping at his face with the sleeve of his jacket.

Roman caught his arm and gently pulled it away, turning Virgil’s face toward him. His cheeks were wet from tears, red from crying.

“Hey, what happened?” He asked, wiping the tear tracks away with his thumbs.

Virgil shrugged, reaching for the bowl back. Roman handed it to him, biting his lip again. He sighed.

“Well, see, now I’m craving some ice cream, too,” Roman said, with a small, teasing grin at Virgil.

Virgil just blinked at him.

After grabbing himself a few scoops of ice cream, he joined Virgil at the counter, jumping up to sit next to him.

“What do you want, Princey?” 

Roman was certain it was meant to be a question, but there was so little inflection in Virgil’s voice that it just sounded like a statement.

“Well, I want to know what’s wrong so that I can try to help,” he said with a shrug, putting a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. “But if you don’t wanna tell me, that’s fine. I’m not gonna make you.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Virgil finally beginning to eat his half-melted ice cream. Roman continued to eat his own, carefully making sure not to look at Virgil. It was probably easier without eyes on him.

Eventually, Virgil placed his bowl on the counter next to him with a low sigh, slouching over even more and placing his head in his hands. Roman set his bowl aside as well and placed a hand on Virgil’s back.

“Virge?”

“It’s just-- why do you even care?”

Roman was taken aback. “What?”

Virgil looked up at him now, face twisted in pain, fresh tears forming in his eyes. “ _ Why. Do. You. Even. Care? _ You didn’t  _ used _ to.”

Roman grabbed his shoulder. “No, Virgil, no, I was  _ wrong _ ! I treated you  _ terribly _ and you  _ didn’t  _ deserve that! And I am  _ so _ sorry for that.”

“ _ Why _ ?”

“Because, I was close-minded. I refused to believe you were good because of the times you had caused Thomas pain, but we’ve  _ all _ caused Thomas pain. Logan gets so passionate about projects that he gets Thomas to work too hard, compromising his health. Patton’s kindness and openness to people has gotten him hurt more than once. My ideas keep him up late at night and stress him out, just as your anxiousness does.

“You are no villain, Virgil. Yes, you can hurt Thomas, but we  _ all _ can. We can all be bad for him without moderation. That’s why we have each other, to keep each other in check. Plus, it’d be pretty lonely in here without you. Who would I argue with?”

Virgil snorted, and Roman grinned. It was a small victory, yes, but it was a victory nonetheless.

“Logan, maybe?”

Roman twisted his face up as goofily as he could, pretending like he was thinking about it. He leaned heavily into Virgil’s shoulder, feeling the other side chuckle a little at his antics.

“Nah, he’s not as fun. It wouldn’t be the same.”

Virgil chuckled out loud that time. Roman tilted his head to look at him upside down and grinned. Virgil shoved him off, gently enough that Roman wouldn’t lose his balance and fall off the counter.

He was smiling again. Roman considered that a job well done.

He bit his lip again (no wonder Patton got him so much chapstick). “Was that what was bothering you?”

Virgil shook his head, but the small smile remained. “No. Sometimes you just feel bad and there’s no reason. It sucks.”

Roman bumped his shoulder with his own. “But, hey, that’s okay! All your feelings are valid.”

They fell into a comfortable silence, both still smiling.

After a minute or two, Roman hopped off the counter and grabbed their bowls, placing them in the sink to be washed tomorrow. Virgil hopped down after him.

“Thanks, Roman.”

Roman tossed an arm around his shoulder. “Hey, what’s family for?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please check me out on tumblr at [sociallyawkward--fics](https://sociallyawkward--fics.tumblr.com)! I'm friendly and I love chatting with y'all! I accept prompts too, if you've got any for me!


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